The Golden Rule

My Grams asked, “Have you seen the news yet today?” No, I had not. She proceeds to tell me about yet another public shooting. Later that night, I flipped on late night television and listened to a student named Brandon thoughtfully recount the details from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

When asked what he thought should be done to prevent something like this from happening again, Brandon paused for a moment and then said that we should treat other people like we want to be treated. There was no reference of guns or mental illness. There were only words of wisdom.

The next day, President Trump addressed the nation, encouraging children to answer hate with love and cruelty with kindness. He then said the most cruel words known to those of us who live with mental health conditions. He talked about tackling “the difficult issue of mental health” in the wake of violence.

These words are akin to offering a lice-infested blanket to someone who is freezing. It’s like giving spoiled food to starving soul. We are longing for dignity. We are longing for community conversations about what contributes to mental health and trauma recovery, but we are not stupid.

If violence is what prompts the mental health conversation, then the conversation is really not about mental health. Instead, it’s about using mental health to prove your point about another matter. When the president of the United States leads in psychiatric profiling, open season is declared upon us.

President Trump is not the first president to perpetuate prejudice against persons with mental health conditions. President Obama did the same thing during a State of the Union address, blaming “the mentally ill” in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

People with mental health conditions are often viscerally impacted by public shootings. We are horrified and mourn loss of life, but we also feel the harsh public backlash as if it were aimed at us personally. We are traumatized by conversations and media that characterize us as inherently evil.

We are unknown secondary victims.

The next day, a friend called and asked how I was handling things. I was doing OK. Because I was working, I had not yet seen much of the news footage and was also spared from social media rhetoric. I asked how he was doing, and he was angry. I understood all too well.

I’ve had this same conversation many times with many people in recent years, and we are tired of being used for political target practice. If you truly care about mental health, then start making substantial investments in human dignity instead of using the topic of mental health as a weapon against us.

The inevitable point which conflates mental health and violence has already been made. The argument is to replace guns with mental health care, but what if we followed Brandon’s recommendation? What if we treated others the way we ourselves wanted to be treated?

Persons living with mental health conditions deserve dignity: being worthy of respect or honor. We deserve the same basic human rights that are applied to all members of society. We deserve equality and equity in our local ZIP codes. We deserve to be heard and validated.

We deserve to live in communities of inclusion, without fear or ridicule. We deserve justice and protections that are afforded all citizens. We deserve to be recognized and for our contributions to be valued. We deserve to be issued invitation in equal proportion to all represented stakeholders.

We deserve to be fully informed about all of our individual and corporate options. We deserve opportunity to risk what others might not choose for us. We deserve opportunity to learn and succeed. We deserve life and we deserve the best life possible. We deserve to not be considered undeserving.

I think Brandon was right. We need to resume practicing the Golden Rule.